Week 1

As a music educator who spends most days singing children’s music with elementary students, getting to take a look back at the history of American popular music is a nice change of pace. Just like America is made up of people from all different cultures, American music is made up of music from all different cultures too.  The reading was a nice history overview of the different cultures, but I think he fact that was most interesting to me was realizing that what might have been the most popular of the time might not be what is remembered today. Starr and Waterman discussed on pg.7 how Paul Whiteman and Al Jolson were superstars of the 1920’s, but they are not what we remember and discuss now. Louis Armstrong and Bessie Smith were not nearly as popular, but are the icons of the era in current times. I wonder what will be remember from current music in 100 years from now.

Listening to “Barbary Allen” was beautiful and a little weird. There was something about Jean Ritchie’s voice that just sounded a little creepy, it was almost like see had no feelings when singing the song. I think a great teaching moment would be how she sang the song with no accompaniment, there are not many songs that students listen too were there is no accompaniment. I looked up the song on YouTube and personally I like Art Garfunkel’s and Pete Seeger’s versions quit a bit more. Just like the authors pointed out, it is amazing how this song has been performed by so many artists spanning over so many generations and yet it has stayed the same. Having students listen to different versions and comparing how one song can sound so different would be a great lesson.

I love Irish music and “Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair” is a great tune, I heard it performed live last summer at a local Irish Pub. As the book states the form is a simple AABA structure, which is one of the structures commonly discussed in elementary school general music. It is amazing how even 160 years ago, artists were using simple form to hook the listener into their music. I frequently discuss how composers use form to keep the listeners interested in the music. I also love hearing the Irish accents and the violin and flute combination that is very popular in Irish music.

When reading about “After the Ball” the first sentence I had to read twice. Starr and Waterman stated on pg. 59 that “After the Ball “was the first “mega-hit” pop song, eventually selling over 5 million copies in sheet music.” This statement struck me, because I have never heard of a pop song making it big by selling sheet music! I never really thought about it, but in 1892 people bought sheet music so they could perform the music. I know my students would be shocked by this, just like I was. I don’t think of pop music as sheet music, but as recorded music.

Starr, L. & Waterman, C. (2013). American popular music: From

minstrelsy to MP3 (4th ed.). New York: Oxford University Press

(ISBN:978-0-19-985911-5).